I think 3D printing is indeed upsetting (killing, even) the plastic ship kit market. Ships have always been the "poor step child" of the market, never selling as well other categories. It costs tens of thousands to create a plastic mold, from which you can only get one ship type. I don't know what the outlay for a printer setup is, but it will give you multiple different ships once you've gotten it, with just some software changes. In China, they have industrial grade printers which do other work, then also print ships (and other things) "in their spare time" for additional profit. It's thus a major industry, not just a "home cottage shop" affair. Trumpeter (with Hobby Boss) are also very big, but I don't know how well ships sell compared to their other lines. They may then be losing to the 3D industry. This is just my line of thinking. We can certainly continue to hope otherwise. I also like plastic better.

One kit I have--my Dream Model Flight III Burke--might be pointing to "the sign of the future." It is a hybrid injection plastic hull with everything else--superstructure, weapons, etc.--all printed. In that I prefer 3D printed to PE, I would rather see this kind of hybrid than the plastic or resin kits which contained "obscene" amounts of PE. I think printing is here to stay in one form or another. How much, or whether, it displaces plastic kits reamins to be seen, but the business model looks like a better setup.